Pulcina, an extraordinary coffee maker by Alessi and Illy

Pulcina brings together two world-famous Italian brands: Illycaffé, a leading name in the world of coffee culture and Alessi, a leader of top-quality design. The result is an extraordinary piece. In fact, Pulcina is an “espresso” coffee maker designed by Michele De Lucchi. De Lucchi shakes up everyday coffee rituals; this revolution has already began.

The idea behind Pulcina is a challenging one: to design a highly functional coffee maker without compromising tradition. Only Alessi and Illy could be up for the challenge. “For Illy, to obtain the best possible coffee and for Alessi, to design a beautiful espresso machine, is definitely part of their history” sais Alberto Alessi, president of Alessi Spa. You just need to think that as early as1934, Illy invented the iconic coffee maker, which makes coffee by filtering pressurized water through ground coffee. What’s more, Alessi has coffee running in its veins – Alberto Alessi’s grandfather was Alfonso Bialetti, the inventor of the moka –  in fact the first coffee maker, 9090 by Richard Sapper, won the 1979 Compasso d’Oro prize.

These two “giants” joined efforts and designed the perfect bottom chamber.  In fact,  maybe only few know that the steam pressure, which makes the coffee spring out of the tower may impact the organoleptic properties of this beverage, leaving an unpleasant bitter taste. This concept is by Michele De Lucchi, who focused on detailing and the aesthetic of the object. The body of the moka is tiered and resembles a chick with the spout looking like a beak.

Pulcina is made of aluminium and can be used on either gas, electric stoves or glass-ceramics hobs. And its already on display at Illy’s store at Expo Milan 2015. It comes with special packaging: a three-cup version with an Illy coffee pack. It will be soon available in all Alessi and Illicaffè stores.

We have tried it; we have to admit it looks so nice that we were satisfied with it even before having coffee. And it makes excellent coffee, which you are definately bound to appreciate. Shall we bet that it’ll become the new daily treat all over the world? 

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